CRI听力:Major progress made on FTA ahead of APEC meeting in Peru

Wang Shouwen, China's Vice Minister of Commerce, was among those attending the APEC ministerial level meeting.

He says a number of fruitful results have come out of the sessions.

"First, the meeting approved a strategic feasibility report of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. The findings and recommendations will be submitted to the APEC leaders for their review and approval this weekend. Second, we laid out a roadmap for the growth of the APEC's service sectors from now to 2025. Third, we looked at sustaining international supply chains and helping developing countries within the APEC to better participate in the global value chains."

The strategic report on the highly-anticipated Free Trade Area among APEC members is being considered the most significant item from the meeting.

An FTA of this magnitude would cover the Asia-Pacific region with 2.8 billion people, 57-percent of the world's GDP and about half of global trade.

Wang Shouwen explains the highlights of the report.

"The report covers a lot of topics, such as the potential economic effects and benefits of such an APEC Free Trade Area. It also looks at some of the potential challenges to such a deal in our current trade and investment systems."

Back in 2014, when the APEC leaders met in Beijing, they agreed to take concrete steps toward greater regional economic integration by endorsing a roadmap for the FTA.
That plan also called for a collective study, along with recommendations, which is due to be given to APEC leaders by the end of this year.

Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen says the new APEC report has laid out concrete steps to ensure the trade environment within the APEC remains open, inclusive and mutually-beneficial.

"This report has materialized the vision of an APEC Free Trade Area into a major concrete step ahead. It is a very important step that will lead to a very bright future."

The continued path toward regional economic integration within APEC comes amid a perceived rise in global trade protectionism, given both the Brexit and the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump has all but quashed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and has also threatened to withdraw the US from the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

This is likely to be a topic of conversation when Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with outgoing US President Barack Obama, likely for the final time, on the sidelines of this weekend's sessions in Lima.